Creating the Primordial Quark-Gluon Plasma at the LHC

This course explores the creation of the primordial quark-gluon plasma at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The learning outcomes include understanding the behavior of QCD at high temperatures, modifications to the QCD coupling constant, dynamics and evolution of heavy ion collisions, and probing hot QCD matter with hard probes. The course teaches skills such as analyzing system sizes and lifetimes, identifying particles formed at universal hadronization, and studying event-by-event initial conditions. The teaching method involves a lecture format with a focus on key questions and comparisons between different collision scenarios at the LHC. This course is intended for individuals interested in high-energy physics, particle collisions, and the behavior of matter at extreme temperatures.